The pay is too damn low, your breakfast dream come true, and more.

Anna

This is interesting. Conservative pundits critique the lopsided coverage of recent “revelations” about mothers as breadwinners—and I actually agree with them on several points! (Also, a take on the GOP’s “woman problem.”)

This New Yorker piece about fast food wages briefly touches on an issue that I feel deserves a lot more air time: One of the big problems when you’re talking about low wage work is that in the US we’ve forsaken any kind of genuine “social insurance” or community back-up support systems that would allow people to get by—even fairly comfortably—in low-paid jobs or even on low-end salaries. It’s always boggled my mind that big corporations in America (and small businesses too) aren’t the ones clamoring for universal health care, child care, and other community investments that would prop up their underpaid workforces:

Realistically, then, a higher minimum wage can be only part of the solution. We also need to expand the earned-income tax credit, and strengthen the social-insurance system, including child care and health care (the advent of Obamacare will help in this regard). Fast-food jobs in Germany and the Netherlands aren’t much better-paid than in the U.S., but a stronger safety net makes workers much better off.

Clark

Primorye Territory Governor Vladimir Miklushevsky has suspended construction of an international coal terminal in Russia’s Far East after local residents voiced concerns about possible damage to the environment.

Eric

In the depths of our hearts, each of us harbor secret desires. Some are so formless that we may not recognize them until someone else names them and we see them for what they are. This week I learned that I have subconsciously longed to never hear the words “waffle taco” used to describe a menu item.

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